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Sunday, August 25, 2013

When Life Gives You Broccoli.......

....Cook it!

We came home from the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013 to find that our son had NOT even LOOKED at the Garden, let alone gone out into it and picked what had ripened.
In addition, our 4 little Broccoli plants had gone into production overdrive!How nice......
If you watched my little garden tour video from Friday you saw all the broccoli that is coming in fast and furiously.
So Hubs took a really big knife and went out to hack off heads of broccoli Friday afternoon. I came into the kitchen and found this camouflaging sitting on the stove......

3 large heads of broccoli.

Ok, genius Hubs, now that you've picked it, "I" have to come up with some ways to use this up before it goes bad.
Thanks babe!

And freezing it is not an option, with the little freezer space I still have since the new upright freezer died before I had it a month.....but let's not go there right now, ok?

So Friday night, along with the burgers we had steamed broccoli.

Saturday night we took a break from broccoli and used up the meat sauce I still had in the fridge from when Tanner was here, I had made to go with the ravioli. We had tossed salad with garden cukes and toms with the rigatoni and meat sauce.

Today, Sunday, I took a package of rolled pie crusts that has been sitting in the fridge since July 4th week(Oldest had been sent to the store to buy 2 crusts and bought 2 PACKAGES instead)which needed to be used up. I defrosted 1 full chicken breast as well. Hubs went out this morning and bought me some Swiss cheese and half & half so I could make a couple of quiches.

I finely chopped an onion and sautéd it and 3 cups of broccoli in a pan with olive oil.....

Beat 8 eggs together.....

Sautéd the chicken breast in a little more olive oil, then sliced/chopped it up....

Put 4 cups of milk(or half & half) into a pot. Added a double pinch each of sugar, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. Then add 1/4 tsp. of pepper.
Heated the milk mixture on medium low and slowly beat in the eggs, continuing to stir so it didn't scald and stick to the bottom of the pot.

I grated Swiss Cheese(I also used a bit of Cheddar Cheese).....

Unrolled the pie crusts into pie pans and crimped the edges....

Added the broccoli/onion mixture....

Added the cooked chicken pieces.....

Arranged the cheese(s) ever so artfully in the pie pan.....

Ladled the egg/milk mixture into each pie pan until full and popped them into a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes.
I always use a cookie sheet or pizza pan under my quiche in case the liquid spills out so it doesn't coat the bottom of my oven and make my smoke detectors go off.....trust me, I know this......

Then when it's firm and done, I removed the quiches from the oven, cool and slice up and eat it.
If you let it sit a couple hours(or refrigerate it after cooling and then slice and reheat it)it will hold together better than if you try to cut it and serve it right out of the oven.
Trust me, I know this too......

I still have a mountain of Broccoli to use after 2 broccoli meals.
Monday I'll be making a Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

After that?
I'm thinking more steamed Broccoli, some raw Broccoli and dip and then I need to get my friend Marsha's Broccoli/Cheese Casserole recipe.

Because I looked out in the garden this afternoon and there are 6 MORE heads coming to a table near me soon!

Broccoli here has become what the Zucchini usually is.....the vegetable that just won't stop giving!

Do you have any awesome recipes using Broccoli?
Please share.....NOW!!! ;-)

I love broccoli because you can just sneak it anywhere and nobody will notice. I use broccoli in pasta sauces, pasta, pizza, rice, stirfry... heck, pretty much in anything I cook. Steamed with a bit of salt or butter works too. Though I don't do any fancy things (because I'm lazy), I can't get you a recipe. But how about spinach dip? It's supposed to keep nicely. Other than that, soup sounds great.

Nutmeg, sugar and cayenne? Hmm... most interesting combo. The first time I got my nutmeg and cinnamon grinders, I was tossing it all over the place (really good with breakfast potatoes!)

Nutmeg is a highly underrated spice....only thought of by most folks in pumpkin or sweet potato pies or a fall squash here and there.

I thought of putting the Broccoli into alfredo pasta or making a homemade pot pie too. But I have decided I am NOT that big a broccoli fan after all. You need to come here and help us eat it all.... 8-)

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About Me

Welcome to my blog! I'm just an older mom, simple gal living my life as best I can. I enjoy saving money, talking frugality, couponing, compacting, personal finance, genealogy, about the South, art, theater and sewing, interspersed with my humorous take on the world and my daily adventures.
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